T4 lysozyme and attacin genes enhance resistance of transgenic 'Galaxy' apple against Erwinia amylovora

Genes encoding lysozyme (T4L) from T4 bacteriophage and attacin E (attE) from Hyalophora cecropia were used, either singly or in combination, to construct plant binary vectors, pLDB15, p35SAMVT4, and pPin2Att35SAMVT4, respectively, for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of 'Galaxy' apple, to enhance resistance to Erwinia amylovora. In these plasmids, the T4L gene was controlled by the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter with duplicated upstream domain and the untranslated leader sequence of alfalfa mosaic virus RNA 4, and the attE gene was controlled by the potato proteinase inhibitor II (Pin2) promoter. All transgenic lines were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for T4L and attE genes, and a double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for neomycin phosphotransferase II. Amplification of T4L and attE genes was observed in reverse transcriptase-PCR, indicating that these genes were transcribed in all tested transgenic lines containing each gene. The attacin protein was detected in all attE transgenic lines. The expression of attE under the Pin2 promoter was constitutive but higher levels of expression were observed after mechanical wounding. Some T4L or attE transgenic lines had significant disease reduction compared to nontransgenic 'Galaxy'. However, transgenic lines containing both attE and T4L genes were not significantly more resistant than nontransgenic 'Galaxy', indicating that there was no in planta synergy between attE and T4L with respect to resistance to E. amylovora.